


True as Steel

by seraphic_gate



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Gift Giving, Hoshimeguri, M/M, Mutual Pining, Royalty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2021-04-16
Packaged: 2021-04-16 21:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21669037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphic_gate/pseuds/seraphic_gate
Summary: Orion/Erin one/shots, some related and some might not be.  Not sure yet. Mostly fluff and mutual pining but I’ll tag/change rating as I go along.
Relationships: Erin/Orion (IDOLiSH7)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 78





	1. Earrings

Erin scanned the room as he entered, a habit he’d grown into as a matter of his survival. His room was not the same as he had left it the night before. 

The clothes hanging in his closet were off an inch or so, like someone had looked through them and done a messy job of setting them back in place.

None of his pieces were missing, and that made him even more curious. He began to dig through each pocket until his fingers brushed a foreign object in his heaviest coat.

He pulled it out to find himself holding a small gift box, shiny and black but otherwise unadorned. Utilitarian. No paper or ribbon. 

That already gave him some idea of who the perpetrator may be. His suspicions were confirmed as he opened the box. 

Inside was a pair of earrings, each one a dangling gold plate inscribed with a delicate scroll pattern.

***

Orion pretended not to notice when Erin pranced into his office wearing the earrings. He stacked his papers and went on to the next pile of work.

Erin sat on the edge of the desk and leaned over. “What’cha doing?”

“I am trying to get through all this mail, which is nearly impossible whenever you are around.”

“Ha, I see.” Erin threw his legs over Orion’s side of the desk, hoping that would distract him. It did. Orion’s eyes widened just barely. “Stupid King. Are you going to act like you don’t appreciate your own taste?” He tilted his head so that the earrings dangled more obviously.

Orion grumbled. “I thought it would take you longer to find them.”

“How naive of you.”

He shrugged and looked back at his papers. “You like them? Good. Then we are even, now get back to your job.”

“Even for what?”

“If you insist on giving me things, then I don’t have a choice but to return something to you.”

“You say that like it’s a punishment,” Erin said, and laid his hand flat on Orion’s desk as he leaned in front of him. “But I’m not into denying myself pleasure.”

Erin reveled in the little sound that escaped from his king’s chest as he sucked in a breath and tried to hide any sign of response. 

“Erin.” His voice was tight and harsh. “What do you make of this?”

He held up a letter he’d just found in his pile.

“Hey, don’t change the subject—“ Erinn read the first few words and cut himself off. “Wait, what is this?” He snatched the paper away.

_Come to the west dock alone on Evensday night, or innocents will die._

“Good thing I opened it today,” Orion chuckled. “I almost missed our invitation.”

“Hmm, so this is the kind of fun you’re up for.” Erin hopped off the desk and began to stretch and check his knives. “Well, I’m game.”

Orion pushes the stack of papers aside, and they headed to the docks.


	2. Veil

Erin’s presence by his side was like having the veil of a battle goddess over him. He could walk through the fray unscathed. Arrows would bounce away as if hitting an invisible wall. Anyone foolish enough to attack Orion in a melee would be laying face first in the mud before they were even an arms length.

“I could take care of _some_ of them” he groaned. 

Erin stopped darting about just long enough for Orion to make out his figure in the rain. His red hair sticking to him. “Excuse me, am I depriving you of your fun?”

“I’ll lose my edge if you clean up everything for me.”

He huffed. “How ungrateful can a man get?”

There were only a few dangers Erin couldn’t neutralize. 

Orion saw a flash before he heard the boom of an explosion. It was so loud that he couldn’t hear what Erin was shouting at him.

He felt the impact as Erin pushed him to the ground and debris showered over them. 

Orion was on his back, half sunk into the mud. He felt Erin’s weight pushing down on him, covering him with his body. 

Shrapnel continued to rain down on them as a nearby building collapsed. The fighting ended momentarily as everyone on the field went for cover.

Through all that, all Orion could think about was how warm Erin felt pressed against him. How light his body was.

He wished to be the one shielding Erin’s small body under his own, but he knew the way that things were. The king must survive.

Still, he held his hands behind Erin’s head out of some instinctual effort to protect him. He winced as something heavy fell and Erin grunted, taking the blow.

When the roar of destruction all around them died down, Erin lifted his head. His expression was pained. “Looks like you might get to have some fun today after all.”

Orion tried to sit up under him and Erin winced. “How bad is it?”

Erin winced. “A broken rib or two.”

“Can you walk?”

“Yeah, but I won’t be fast.”

Orion stood. “We’re almost in the clear, just lean on me.”

Erin scoffed at that. “I can walk on my own, you just keep your sword ready—_look out._”

Orion turned in the direction indicated by Erin’s gesture just as an enemy soldier jumped out. He quickly made work of him. They weren’t used to fighting well-trained soldiers like Orion. 

He turned back to Erin. “Good eye.”

Erin limped as he walked. Orion worried he may have been more injured than he let on. A simple cracked rib wouldn’t have held him back so much. 

He put his arm around Erin to help him, but Erin refused it. “They’re scattered now, but it won’t be long before they regroup and track us down.”

Orion knew where Erin’s calculating mind would go next, but he couldn’t leave him. That was something he could never do. “I have a suggestion then, one you won’t like.”

“Then do I even want to hear it?”

Orion whipped off his coat and cape to free his range of movement, and knelt in front of Erin. “Get on.”

“No way, you won’t be able to fight like that!”

“I can run with you faster than you can walk, that’s more important.”

“What’s important is that you survive. I won’t be able to protect you, but you’ll be better off alone.”

“My survival may be the priority, but saving you is worth some level of risk, I should say. You are quite a valuable asset.” Maybe if he put it that way, Erin could accept it.

“An asset?” Erin chuckled at that. “And here I was thinking maybe I was special to you.”

This wasn’t the place for his teasing. “It can be both. Now come, we don’t have the luxury of time, so don’t be stubborn.”

Erin hesitated a second longer before resigning to the fact. He climbed onto Orion’s back.

Orion hoisted him up, holding his arms under his legs. He thought Erin couldn’t have weighed more than ninety pounds, or maybe it was just adrenaline making him seem that way.

Again, he couldn’t help think of how warm Erin was in spite of the gravity of the situation. He felt his breath against the back of his neck and Erin’s arms tighten around him. 

“You just keep a look out,” Orion said.

Erin held a few of his knives out in a fan between his fingers. “I’m not down yet.”

Orion grinned. “Now, there’s the Erin I know.”

***

Orion soon thanked himself for his strict regimen of training. In spite of others constantly telling him “the war is over” he somehow knew he’d need the endurance someday.

They ran into a few soldiers at first, which Erin dispatched from Orion’s back. Soon, they had left the thick of it and began to spot their own soldiers.

At last, an officer spotted them. “Is that you, King Orion? Thank god!” He sighed. “When we heard the city was under attack, we feared the worst.”

“I need a doctor,” Orion said.

“Are you injured?”

“I’m not, but he is.”

“I’ll be okay,” Erin said, but it came out in a cough.

“Hurry, this way,” the officer said. “We don’t have a medic, but my men can take you behind the lines where you can rest at least.”

Orion followed one of the soldiers.

“You could put me down now,” Erin grumbled. “I can walk.”

“Not a chance.”

“Uhg, stupid King.”

***

Finally, what seemed like hours later, they were ushered into an old church where the clergy had taken in refugees from the town.

Orion’s blood burned to see them there, displaced from their homes. It was supposed to be over.

He wondered if they knew who he was. If they knew, if they would spit on him.

A woman helped lower Erin onto a palette on the floor. Orion removed Erin’s jacket and shirt. Erin allowed this, pouting the whole time.

Once he could see Erin’s back, he realized how severe the injury was. The expanse of his back was bruised, and he had gashes in his skin. Blood welled up and darkened under the wounds.

They didn’t have a doctor present, but one of the sisters of the church brought him a basket of medical supplies.

“Thank you,” he said. 

“Are you a doctor all of the sudden?” Erin scoffed.

Orion washed his hands in the basin the sister brought for him. “I have some training. I never liked killing people very much, you know.”

“What an idiot,” Erin said. “You love fighting people, but you don’t want to kill them?” His chest wracked and he heaved a breath.

“Stop laughing, you fool. You’ll make it worse.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Here.” Orion handed him a thick roll of cloth. “Lie down and try not to move.”

Erin turned onto his stomach and adjusted the pad underneath him until he was no longer putting any strain on the wounded area.

Orion cleaned the area first, working as tenderly as he could with a clean cloth and water. If Erin felt any pain as he dabbed at him with the cloth, he masked it well.

The disinfectant wasn’t as gentle. Erin hissed as he applied it. “It’ll be over soon,” he said, and without thinking, he stroked the back of Erin’s head with his palm to comfort him.

“Please don’t act so weird, I’m trying not to laugh.”

Orion grumbled and tried to ignore that as he began to pluck bits of debris from Erin’s skin. His coat had caught most of it, but there were a few pieces that pierced through.

Erin sighed like he was getting a massage. Orion thought about what that would be like, giving his servant a nice rub down as a reward for all his hard work. 

His thoughts had wandered like this lately. It must be all the fighting. Emotions were running high, becoming so mixed up.

Soon he had Erin bandaged. There was little he could do about the broken ribs except wait for them to heal. 

“Rest now,” Orion said. “I’m going to see if anyone else could use my help.”

“I’m cold,” Erin said, reaching for him.

Orion realized he’d dropped his coat and couldn’t offer it to him. He draped Erin’s jacket over his shoulders and hoped that would be enough. “Good?”

Erin nodded. “I’ll try to sleep. Wake me if anything happens.”

“Of course.”

Orion went around the church to offer what little first aid experience he had to the wounded civilians. 

An elderly woman had a gash on the side of her face. He told her he could stitch it up, but he didn’t have any anesthesia. She laughed at him and told him to stop being so soft. His people certainly were resilient in spite of all this.

Thankfully they were light injuries. He’d have to wait until his men finished clearing the area before he got an accurate count of the casualties. 

He wrung a cloth in his hands until it ripped in two.

“Won’t you rest?” One of the sisters asked. “Your friend is sleeping well enough.”

“No, I can still make myself useful. If there’s nothing more to see to in here, I’ll go out—“

She shook her head and shushed him. “You know, your red-haired friend has a reputation. They say he fiercely protects our king, that anyone who says even an unkind word about King Orion should watch himself, because that boy is so frightening. You never know where he’ll pop out from.”

Orion felt himself flush with embarrassment and shame, even though the nun was smiling about it. “Do they all know?”

”Everyone seems to think it’s best not to point it out, but that old woman is quite impressed at how clean you dressed her wound.”

He sighed. “Thank you for helping me, despite knowing who I am.” 

“We would help anyone in spite of their affiliations, but I must say, I think the way you cared so tenderly for your attendant speaks louder than rumors.”

“I owe everything to him. Although, I‘d prefer it if he didn’t pick fights with citizens for merely speaking their minds.”

She laughed softly. “He must love you dearly. It would be a shame to put yourself in unnecessary danger and worry him, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. Yes, you’re right.”

Orion returned to the spot where Erin laid sleeping. His hair was still damp and stuck in clumps to his face.

He combed his fingers through Erin’s bangs to make him a little more comfortable, to be as much a comfort as he could.


	3. Silver Smile

With the old king behind bars at last, Erin thought it prudent to raid the secret vaults, where he suspected valuables had been away from the public.

There were pieces of centuries old jewelry and empty suits of armor as one might expect of any royal stash. Erin wasn’t surprised at that.

What did come as a surprise to him was how much art had accumulated there, knowing how much the old king swore he hated the arts, and how his line had tried to stomp out any creative endeavors within the kingdom unless they could be used for their propaganda.

But here, in a dark room hidden behind doors with iron bars, there were sculptures and paintings.

Erin was afraid to touch them. With no idea how old they could be, he feared he could ruin them somehow. Even so, his curiosity got the better of him when he uncovered an interesting portrait. 

The image was of a woman wearing the crown of Lama. Not just any trinket meant for a queen, but the crown of the sovereign ruler.

But that wasn’t the most striking thing. What Erin noticed first were her eyes.

The royal line had always been known for the unique coloration carried by their bloodline. Pale skin like moonlight, and silver hair wavy and wild that fell all around her. There were old wives tales that the royal family of Lama descended from angels, or dragons, or the gods themselves.

Perhaps no pigment existed that could capture the color of her eyes, but Erin could imagine, from the shape and expression, how haunting they would have been. Silver, almost glowing from within. Just like his.

A silver queen so beautiful it took his breath away.

***

“Just who was she?” Orion asked aloud, as they watched the painting being hung in the castle hall.

Erin groaned. “She’s your ancestor, why don’t you know?”

“I have no knowledge of a sovereign queen of Lama,” he said. “I was always told the line was strictly patriarchal. Get married and have a son as soon as you can, that’s what I was told.”

“But that’s clearly a painting of a woman wearing the crown,” Erin said, pointing, as if it wasn’t obvious. “I’m surprised such a scandalous image wasn’t destroyed a long time ago.”

“I want everyone to see it,” Orion said. “I want our historians to date and research every sculpture and painting in that vault. I’ll commission experts from Sirena if I have to.”

Erin laughed. Orion’s voice was getting so loud, even though no one else was listening. It happened whenever he was excited about something, even if he didn’t show it on his face. 

“You feel connected to her, don’t you?”

Orion folded his arms and tried to pretend like Erin wasn’t right. “I merely want to recover Lama’s history, and the culture that it’s recent rulers have erased.” 

Erin looked up at the painting again. “There is a light in her eyes that reminds me of you.”

“Well, she is my ancestor.”

“It’s not just that.” Erin chuckled. “It’s like there’s a smile in her eyes, even if her lips are a flat line.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“She’s making the exact same face as you do. It must be in the blood.”

Orion looked up at the painting for a moment, then down again. “You’re trying to tease me.”

“How would I be?” Erin sighed out of exasperation, and figured it better to let the conversation go. He wondered if the mysterious queen had been this stubborn, too.

The tail of Orion’s cape fluttered as he turned his back and began to walk down the hall. Back to work again.

Erin stayed behind and met eyes with the woman in that painting once more. 

He didn’t know anything about angels or dragons, and even less about gods, but he hoped that if the spirits of the departed could see them from wherever they ended up, that she would look upon Orion and be proud.

“Help me protect him,” he said. A half-hearted prayer under his breath. “I need all the help I can get.”


	4. Long Day

Erin followed Orion into his room and began tidying up and preparing for the king to go to bed. This was an immense waste of his talents, of course, but he didn’t trust any maid or butler to get so close to his king.

“Go to bed, Erin.” The king’s voice was gruff. He sat down on the edge of his bed and began to pull his shoes off with little care for how the laces were done.

Erin poured fresh water from a pitcher into into the basin beside the bed and clicked his tongue as he set it behind a screen along with some soap and cloth. “If I leave you’ll go to sleep in your clothes.”

“Fine, fine.” He groaned as he got back out of bed to take off his pants and shirt. Erin picked his shoes and discarded clothes off the ground and put them each where they should go. The shoes went outside the door to be polished and delivered back the next morning. The outer coat and pants were to be hung up, and all the gold bits needed to be laid on the dresser to be found in the morning. The shirt and undergarments would be thrown in with the regular washing.

“Come on, clean yourself off before I hand you new clothes.”

Orion grumbled and stepped behind the folding screen to wipe sweat and grime off his body from the day’s work. The screen itself was a point of modesty that Erin found rather silly, but it was the only way the king would agree to washing up while he was still in the room.

“Here you go,” he said, and hung the clean clothes over the screen.

Orion grumbled and staggered out, dressed in clean night clothes.

Erin squinted up again him. “Did you was your ears? You barely look wet.”

“You’re worse than an old grandmother,” Orion said. “Please leave me in peace.”

He flopped back onto the bed, face first this time, burying his face in a pillow.

Erin rolled his shoulders and sighed. He was tired, too. Every day was tiring, but Orion’s petulant attitude that night was not due to physical exhaustion alone.

They’d gotten news a few days earlier of a sizable militia that intended to stand against his Royal forces, and was out there as Orion laid in his comfortable bed, pillaging towns for supplies and forcing civilians into their ranks. 

It was a problem they would solve, but not soon, and not without loss of life.

Erin shucked his own shoes off and crawled into the bed.

Orion grumbled, his voice muffled by the pillow. “Why are you still here?”

“I’m always here.” He reached out his hand and buried his fingers into Orion’s mess of silver hair.

Orion didn’t respond to this petting verbally at all, but Erin saw his shoulders rise and fall as he took in and released a deep breath. The tension in his body relaxed the more Erin scratched him with the touch of his fingertips.

“Ha,” he said. “My king does respond to some affection after all.”

He expected some grumpy retort to that, but instead, Orion moved all at once, so abruptly that Erin jumped a little thinking that something must be wrong. Orion sat up, only to drop his head into Erin’s lap.

He buried his face there, like he knew that this would be too embarrassing to acknowledge. Erin let him off the hook with little more than a chuckle at his expense. He resumed threading his fingers through Orion’s hair. 

Orion curled his legs up and pulled a blanket over his shoulders, inviting himself to stay there long term, and Erin couldn’t say much about it.

Not that he wanted to. This was another hilarious misuse of his position as Orion’s bodyguard, but it was a duty he couldn’t entrust to anyone else.


	5. Coronation

# Coronation   
Erin waited outside the cracked door of the chamber where Orion was dressing for the upcoming ceremony. 

He didn’t like the idea of someone else being so close to the prince. He liked the idea of someone with their hands all over him even less. But Orion was too modest to allow him to sit in. He’d rather have a stranger dress him than his most loyal servant, whatever.

Erin had to settle for patting down the wardrobe attendant for weapons. Orion compromised by leaving the door open a crack so that Erin could stand outside and listen.

While he waited, he fidgeted with the edges of a small paper box in his hands. If he lofted it to his nose, he could smell the rose inside.

Soon the attendant emerged and told Erin the dressing was done, and that he could enter again. 

When he saw Orion standing there in the clothes that had been fitted for the ceremony, he almost forgot how to breathe.

Orion was dressed in a white suit with a vest cut close to the waist, and a long tail coat. The shape had none of the military trappings of his usual attire, no epaulettes or cords. The layers of silk against his pale skin made him seem almost delicate, like a glass figure.

“I look ridiculous, I know.”

Erin was glad the look on his face had been mistaken for some kind of mirth. It would be embarrassing if the king made him blush. “What is that get up?”

“An affluent member of the textiles guild offered to fund the construction of a new school, and all they asked was that I wear a ensemble of their design to my coronation.”

“In that case I won’t tease you, but why did they go with all white like that?”

Orion grumbled. When he moved, the gossamer thin cape of dove grey floated behind him. Erin thought of the silver lining under a cloud. “I don’t know, maybe they think it will start a new trend for weddings? That isn’t my problem.”

It was the same rigid and dense Orion beneath all that pretty silk, after all. Erin smiled and held up the box. “I got you this because I thought you’d be wearing black.”

Orion took it from his hands and opened it. Inside was a corsage featuring a big white rose framed with a few speckles of baby’s breath and a silk ribbon.

“It won’t stand out at all against all that.”

Orion looked at it, still in the box in his hands, and his expression softened. He took a deep breath and looked up. “Erin, have I ever thanked you?”

“All the time,” Erin said. “Although usually you’re being sarcastic.”

“Thank you.” Orion smiled as he said it in that subtle way that barely pulled at his lips. The way that he looked when he was out in the garden, or when he saw children playing in the streets. “I wouldn’t be here without you.”

Erin felt a flush of heat again, same as he had at the first sight of Orion in that stupid white outfit. “Come on, don’t say stuff like that.”

Orion turned to the mirror and began to fuss with the front of his coat, trying to pin to corsage. 

“Uhg, you’re pinning it too low.” Erin walked up to him and took the flower back. “Let me do it.”

Orion allowed this. Erin was already adjusting the position of the flower on his lapel before he realized that this had been a bad idea, that it put him so close to Orion that he could feel the warmth of his body, and his breath tickling the top of his head.

“There you go,” he said, and quickly extricated himself from that position with a long step back. “It’s almost time for you to get out there.”

“You say that like you aren’t coming with me.”

Erin looked back at him blankly. “Why would I?”

“I’m here because of you. I want you by my side.”

Erin took a step back and looked down at his feet. Orion could say such a simple thing and make him feel things. That was why he was inspiring to so many people. “I don’t belong out there, you know.”

“Ah, but...”

Erin looked up and found Orion visibly straining to think of some excuse. He was only good at speaking when he was talking from the heart. Any time he tried too hard, it turned into an awkward mess.

“The fact is,” Orion said, grasping onto something in his mind. “I still have so many enemies, and I won’t be armed at this ceremony. It would be an opportune time for an assassin to strike. Yes, that’s it. So, I am sorry, but you really must stand nearby at all times to protect me.”

Erin sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “Fine, if you’re going to be stubborn.”

“I am.”

There was a knock at the door. They were ready to begin.

“I guess instead of prince, after this I’ll be calling you king.”

“The proper way to address a king is ‘your majesty,’ but as long as you can refrain from saying ‘that guy’ or ‘hey you ‘ then I won’t split hairs about it.”

Erin snickered. “All right then, instead of a stupid prince you’re a stupid king.”

Orion grit his teeth and started to retort to that, but Erin nudged his elbow into his side to shut up, since it was time to go.

He walked behind Orion until they got to the castle’s courtyard where hundreds of people had gathered.

Orion grabbed him by the arm and pulled him closer. “I said _by my side_, not several paces behind me.”

Erin groaned. They were walking down the aisle with their arms linked like he was about to give away a bride. He yanked his arm away. “Fine, just don’t touch me. Idiot.”

It was the first time Erin had seen a crowd gathered for Orion that was smiling and waving banners and streamers for him, and not protesting in anger. They threw flower petals from the upper floors and balconies. Musicians began to play as the people clapped and cheered.

Orion’s smile was softer than usual, or at least it seemed that way in the sparkling light with petals falling from the sky like snow.


	6. Perfect Size

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter-specific content warning: liquor/alcohol/drunkeness

Erin didn’t mind the smell of liquor on Orion’s breath. Laman liquor had a sweet and smokey essence that mingled with Orion’s scent in a way that wasn’t unpleasant, he had to admit.

What he did mind was the weight of this enormous man slumped against him as he tried his best to make it to his bedchambers.

Every few steps they strayed farther to the right. Erin didn’t like having so little control over his movements. His shoulder bumped a banner hanging in the hall. The rod clattered to the ground.

“Pull it together. I’m not big enough to carry you.”

“Thankfully not” Orion said, as he tried his best to take some of the weight off, but almost tripped. “Any bigger and you wouldn’t be just the right size.”

“What are you going on about?”

“You’re perfectly sized.” Orion snorted a drunken laugh. “Not too big, not too little”

“What the hell does that mean?”

He grinned and raised a hand flat and level to his chin, while at the same time he took a step backwards as if the room was moving around him. “You come up to right here. Perfect size.”

“Idiot...”

Orion pushed himself upright and pulled Erin close to him. It came as such a surprise that even Erin with his sharp reflexes didn’t react until Orion was holding him against his chest. 

It was true that the top of his head fit just under Orion’s chin, and even with his hands held up defensively between them, his body was tucked perfectly between the width of Orion’s shoulders.

Orion’s arms closed around him as he swayed back and forth. “See? Perfect.”

Erin hated how even though Orion wasn’t applying his full strength, he still couldn’t easily push himself out of his embrace, and had to resort to wriggling out his arms.

Orion stumbled forward and barely managed to catch himself by pressing a hand against the wall.

“Idiot,” Erin grumbled. “You’re so concerned about looking weak to others until you get shitfaced, then suddenly you’re clingy.”

Orion smiled. Drinking to excess had made his face flushed. “Hm, you seem angry.”

“Did you hear a word I just said?”

“Eh? I’m sorry.”

Erin groaned and turned away. “Come on, I just want to put you to bed so that I can rest a bit without worrying what trouble you’re getting into.”

When he took a step, he felt a tug at his ponytail. He turned to find Orion holding the end of it between his forefinger and thumb.

“Your hair is silky.”

Erin whipped his hair away from him and darted around to push him from behind. “Move, you stupid lunk!”

He started to step forward, one foot slowly after another, until they finally reached the door.

“I hope you can find the bed on your own.”

Orion looked at him, smiling again. “You’re still frowning: What can I do to quell that anger?” 

Erin huffed and folded his arms across his chest. He knew he was being petulant to complain, when he had given Orion permission to drink in the first place. “I wish you’d smile like that when you weren’t drunk, that’s all.”

“I don’t think I understand, but...” He trailed off, thinking. “Can I get you a present?”

“I don’t need a gift, idiot!” He sighed. “Promise me we’ll have cake tomorrow, that’s all I want.”

“Then we will have cake, that’s what we will do.”

“You’d better not complain about it, either.”

Orion tried to bow, but lost his pose on the way back up. “It’s my promise to you.”


	7. Until Then

Erin,

Since you have been gone, the strangest thing has happened. The moon has disappeared from the sky, and the stars have each gone out one by one until none are left. 

You must return safely and soon, or else I fear an even greater calamity may unfold.

Always yours,   
Orion

—-

My King,

I’m sure you can go a few nights without the moon and stars. 

Just think about what you want to do when I get back <3 <3 <3

Erin

—-

Erin,

I am afraid the situation on Lama has worsened. Without you, the sun doesn’t even bother to rise anymore. We spend our days in pitch blackness.

You really must hurry back, or the whole star might stop moving along its track.

Always yours,  
Orion

—-

Dear King,

Since when did you get so creative? It must be because of those books Shinkai lent you. 

I’ll be back soon, promise.

Erin

——

Erin,

I’m writing to you from the pitch blackness that has befallen our star in your absence. It’s frightfully cold and empty. I’m afraid if you don’t come home right away, the sun will never again show its face.

Always Yours,  
Orion

—-

To the very stupid king of Lama,

This is getting tiresome. Can you come up with a new bit already? Stop sulking. I’ll be back before you know it.

Erin

—-

To my dearest Erin,

To comply with your request, rather than continue to describe my misery, I will tell you how much I long for your return.

When I see you again, the stars will shine. The moon will be full. The sun will rise. Beauty and warmth will return to me. 

Until then,  
Orion 

***

Erin closed the letter and fanned himself with it. How? Why? It wasn’t even the least bit sexy and he was blushing like a nun at a brothel.

He couldn’t think of a response.

In the end, he had to admit that in this one area, Orion had him bested.


End file.
